CHICAGO (AP) — Donald Trump seized an opening Tuesday to air his frequent argument that imposing massive tariffs on foreign goods would amount to an economic elixir — an elixir that he claims would raise huge sums of money for the government, U.S. would protect companies from overseas competition and encourage foreign companies to open factories in the United States.
Appearing before a friendly audience at the Economic Club of Chicago, the Republican presidential candidate repeatedly claimed that tariffs are being misinterpreted as an economic tool.
“To me,” Trump said, “the most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariff. It’s my favorite word. It takes a PR company.”
If the tariffs need an image change, it’s probably because mainstream economists say they essentially amount to a tax on American consumers that would make the economy less efficient and increase inflation in the United States.
The moderator, John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, often struggled to keep the conversation focused on the economy and business. For example, when Trump was asked whether the government should break up Google after an antitrust lawsuit, he started talking about the fight against voter fraud in Virginia and how he believed Google had treated him unfairly.
Repeatedly, Trump has steered the interview back into familiar territory, repeating old stories and talking points about immigrants, voter fraud and transgender athletes. He even used a fake foreign accent to recount his dealings with French President Emmanuel Macron and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
As president for a second term, Trump said, he would use the threat of tariffs to extract concessions from foreign leaders. He has proposed a 60% tariff on goods from China and a tariff of up to 20% on everything else the United States imports. At times, he has even threatened even higher tariffs on companies in Mexico and U.S. companies considering moving abroad.
Trump said he went into the interview knowing that he and Micklethwait had starkly different views on trade and economics. In front of a supportive crowd, he seemed to enjoy telling Micklethwait he was wrong. Though not nearly as rowdy as his usual crowd, the audience gathered at a hotel not far from Trump’s was friendly throughout, laughing at his jokes and clapping.
At times the dynamic became tense, with Micklethwait claiming that Trump’s tariffs would lead to higher prices for consumers and that his promises of various tax breaks would inflate the budget deficit because “you’re flooding the thing with giveaways.”
Trump responded mainly with well-known anecdotes and stories. And he insisted that mainstream economists and journalists were wrong about the impact of tariffs, emphasizing that they are paid by foreign countries, not American consumers.
“It must be hard for you to talk about tariffs negatively for 25 years and then have someone explain to you that you’re completely wrong,” he told Micklethwait, laughing.
The former president repeated his false claim that there had been a peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 elections. His supporters even stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, to try to stop Congress from formally counting the Electoral College votes that would have given the presidency to Joe Biden.
Trump called Republicans the party of “common sense” and said, “We need borders. We need fair elections. We don’t want men participating in women’s sports. We don’t want transgender operations without parental consent.’
He also repeated his claim that the Biden administration deliberately allowed hardened foreign criminals into the United States.
“They are in prison for murder, some for capital punishment,” Trump said. “They were released into our country.”
Trump does not often submit to critical interviews. While he often speaks with conservative commentators and podcast hosts, he rarely sits down for extended question-and-answer sessions with mainstream news outlets.
Trump, who has been ridiculed by Democrats and other critics for his extensive rallies, accused Micklethwait of jumping back and forth between topics.
“You have to be able to finish a thought,” Trump told Micklethwait, who often returned to topics to try to pressure Trump to answer his questions.
“You went from the dollar to Macron,” Micklethwait noted.
Trump responded that he was “weaving,” a term he recently used to explain his rhetorical style.
The interview played well with Trump supporters. His former White House aide and current adviser Stephen Miller posted on . Period.’
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Wiseman reported from Washington.
